The Display Monitor team has not visited TV Connect since it rebranded from IP&TV World Forum after the 2012 show. At the time, the buzz was about the replacement of set-top boxes by home gateways, and everyone wanted to talk about social TV.
How times have changed! There was no question in anyone’s mind this year that the humble STB is here to stay, despite connected TV prices continuing to fall. Social TV was barely mentioned, but UltraHD and HEVC products were everywhere. Even the lack of content isn’t slowing demand, we were told – if people have an UltraHD display, they want a matching STB. Other trends included massive growth in OTT, software-based video processing, end-to-end IPTV and BYOD.
TV Connect had relocated from the London Olympia to the ExCel Arena for the first time this year, which is significantly easier to get to (well, easier for some! Man. Ed)
